Augustus G. Rudd - Education For The New Social Order [1948].pdf

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No.'235 cents a copy" SEPTEMBER 15, 198

By AUGUSTUS,G. RUDDChairman, Guardians of American Education, Garden City, N.Y.

An Address delivered before the Nationa~ Society of New England Women

New York, N. Y., February 26,1948

l~

from

VITAL SPEECHES

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THE BEST THOUGHT OF THE BEST MIND ON



Education for the New Social OrTRAGIC RESULTS NOW APPARENT

By AUGUSTUS G RUDD, Chairman, Guardians of American Foundation

Delivered before the National Society of New England Women, New York, N. Y., February 26, 1948

JAM very happy to be here today to talk to you about a

subject of vital concern to all of us-the education of

youth. Not only are we deeply concerned with the edu-cation of our children as a personal matter, but also from a

patriotic standpoint for the destiny of this Republic will

soon be in their hands. They will decide whether it remains

a great Republic of free men and women or falls into thetotalitarian abyss of socialism, communism or any otherpolice__state.

I should like, however, to first make my personal positionclear. I am not a teacher, nor do I have any personal ormaterial interest in the teaching 'Trrofessiorr. I am not awriter of textbooks and have no interest nor connection with

the publication br sale of them .

But I have a deep feeling of gratitude for the opportunities

that were given me as a child, to learn about and understand

our great American heritage, and feel a sincere obligation to

do what I can to see that our youngsters have equal oppor-

tunity. I shall attempt to explain why that opportunity is

, lost to millions of the children of today .

PUBLIC SCHOOLS' FINE RECORD

Free public schools are distinctly an American institution.

The principle that very child is entitled to an equal oppor-

tunity for a sound education was recognized almost from the

beginning of colonization in America . It was on February13, 1635, that the first free public school was opened in New

England, to become known as the Boston Latin School.

For almost 300 years, and until quite recently, this great

American institution has been a bulwark of freedom . It has

done a great job. It has had our unlimited confidence. Morethan any other institution, it is the one which the average

American would unqualifiedly say is thoroughly sound .

And why has the public ;school enjoyed such completeconfidence? Because it had been free of politics and propa-

ganda. It had given pupils a factual knowledge,whiletrain-ing_ them in the homely virtues and developing mentaldiscipline. Its textbooks had provided reliable information

and encouraged sound thinking. No one doubted that theteacher's main purpose was to educate the child. Both teach-

ers and textbooks truly reflected our faith and belief in the

basic principles upon which our liberties were founded . The

teaching profession may well be proud- of this record of

many generations. But a profound change has been apparentduring the past 20-25 years .

STUDENTS LOSE FAITH IN AMERICAN WAY

At a delightful garden party near the banks of the Hudson

River, there were present several students from a nearbywomen's college, two of whom I engaged in conversation.

Although these young ladies were born and bred in the finest

American tradition, I was'amazed to hear their opinions on

economic and political philosophy. Both held that our Amer-

ican free economy was outmoded, that the profit motive was

bad, and that socialism would be an improvement. Both were

lukewarm__about the value of the Constitution of the UnitedStates; saying that d_outlived its usefulness in ,many

respects and now retarded democracy. One said that com-munism was a modern form of democracy from which wecould adopt many desirable features . In short, these colleggirls had little or no faith or belief in ourAmericansysteregardless of its glorious record of material and spiritual

blessings, the envy of oppressed peoples all over the world.

COLLEGE POLL SHOWS 63 PERCENT FAVOR SOCIALISM

No doubt all of you have had similar ex erie csae,for _

leading girls college is not unique. It could be any of abouttwo-thirds of our colleges, for men or women, North, South,

East, or West; for a carefully conducted survey recentlrevealed that nearly two-thirds of our college students fav-

ored socialism. Dr. Henry Link posed the following question

to a cross section of 5,000 people : "If the Governmenowned and managed industries, would you get more or lessfor your money than you do now?" Among the generalpopulation, 43 percent said that they would get as much' o

more under Government ownership, and 63 percent of th

college students polled were of this opinion .

Bewildered parents all over the country have been Asking

themselves in recent years, "How do these youngsters ge

that way?" Time and again I have heard a distressed parensay, "Jim certainly didn't get it at home." Or, "Jane wasall right before she went to college." So, what is the answer?

Is there a pattern or plan behind a widespread movement?

Unfortunately, this condition has been brought about largel

by design. Briefly, this is the story.

DEBUNKING THE FOUNDING FATHERS

Thirty-five years ago, Charles A. Beard, then a younprofessor at Columbia University, wrote a book called AnEconomic Interpretation of the Constitution of the UniteStates, in which he questioned the motives and thework o

the founding fathers of- tl~i D -.rh '-~-gook-

properly considered the primary course of the "debunkersof American history. It advanced the theory of "economideterminism," meaning that any man's motives are dominated

by, his present or expected wealth, and therefore his action

must be judged solely in this light . Since most of the signer

of the Constitution were men of some wealth (quite natur

ally, since they were educated and education was rare andexpensive in those days) it follows, according to the book,

that their impelling motives for creating this great charteof freedom were not necessarily for the good of the whole

people but rather for the delegates' own personal interest .

In his 1913 book Beard states: "Suppose * * * that sub

stantially all of the merchants, money lenders, security-holders, manufacturers, shippers, capitalists, and financier

and their professional associates are to be found on one sid

in support of the Constitution and that substantially all o

the major portionof the opposition came from the„nonslaholding farmers and the debtors-would it not be prettconclusively demonstratedthat our fundamental law was not

the product of an abstraction known as the whole people,'

but of a groupofeconomi' interestswhichmust have expecte

beneficial results from its adoption?" The greater part of



the book is then devoted to showing that the delegates had,

economic interests and property, and thus he proves his case.

Seldom has a more unjust and destructive theory beenadvanced in the history of our country. And yet this book

has been required leading in thousands of-schools and col-

leges for a generation: "This book," says Walter Lippmann,

"has had an immense influence upon the writing and teaching

of American history and upon the outlook off' the generation

that Vas educated inthe interval between the two great wars.

I# would hardly be art exaggeration to say that this book

is the classic which set the fashion for the debunkinghistorians."

,BUILDING AMERICA" TEXTBOOKS

New do we find' this propaganda in our school class-rooms? We certainly do. There is a series of textbooks called

Building America sponsored by the National EducationAssociation. In'California the Sons of the American Revo-

lution, learning that the State department of education in-

tended to introduce these books into the public schools,vigorously opposed the proposal and inQtitnted court action

to prevent-it, -I rk cw t 'O ~hdrn tbe'SARcoifciplaint

and petition in the proceedings before the legislature of the

State of California :

"Building America is a subversive publication in that it

undermines principles essential to our form of government .

The following material contained therein is of that character :

"1 The representation that. the Constitution of the United

States was the work of well-to-do lawyers, bankers, andbusinessmen, acting against the interest of the common peo-

ple, as part of a program to make personal profit."

On page 6 of volume II of Building America we findthis text:

"Nearly all the men who gave their great talents to the

job were capable, well-to-do lawyers, planters, merchants,

bankers, or businessmen. Some-of them had lent money tocarry on the Revolution. Many had Continental bonds and

paper. money which were almost worthless, but which theywanted the new government to make good. None of thedelegates was a city mechanic or a small farmer who ownedlittle or no property."

There you see the ideas from Professor Beard's book-asplain as day.

.TheSAR petition continues

"The board was put on notice regarding the subversiveon inof Troppanda in theBu' America books. It wass own that the__umt, ur onst,tution, had been prepared

in 1936 in a Federal writers' pro ect, in New York Citywith WPA funds; that a considerable part of the materialconsisted of hand-outs from Federal propaganda agencies ;

that the educational pattern was based on programs of left-

wing radical groups."

Fortunately the SAR won a complete victory in California

and the legislature refused money for the purchase of the

books, Building America. Incidentally, who do you suppose

put up a good part of the money to finance these textbooks?

The General Education Board (founded by John D. Rockefeller) which advanced $50,000 for this purpose .

ORIGIN OF PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT

With the rise of communism in Soviet Russia, the alien

theories of Karl Marx began to take root in the United

States. They found particularly fertile soil among the radical

educators at Teachers College, Columbia University, where

a small group decided the time was ripe for a new social

order of. a collectivist character.

Getting stimulus from the ideas of Professors John Dewey,

Charles Beard, and others; the Institute of International

Education' was established in Columbia University in 1919.It started conducting trips to foreign lands,. aided by educa=tional foundation funds.

A noted educator, Dr. John C. Almack, professor of edu-'cation, Stanford University, says :

"Many teachers and students took the pilgrimage to the

Old World, usually including Germany and Russia in their iitineraries. Many of them returned challenging everything

American, breathing fire and defiance to property, the profit

system, and the Constitution, and beating the tom-toms for anew social order. They began the active diffusion of eco-nomic reform ideas by means of pamphlets, papers, paneldiscussions, forums, lecturers, teaching, and books . Theywere filled with the notion that revolution was just around

the corner, and that they must declare the way, after insuring

their own safety, should things go wrong, by guaranties of

academic freedom.

"The new schools in Russia were organized and conducted

after the model laid out by John Dewey in Chicago manyyears earlier. The children ran the schools, worked whenthey' pleased, -~~ ere rude amunmannerly, and showed norespect for parents or teachers . . No reading, writing, arith-metic, and such old-fashioned fundamentals were tolerated in

these modern schools. Instead, there was a complex system,in which, with social activities, skills were supposed to be

introduced when and if the pupils wanted them .

"In 'the Russian schools indoctrination in the practice ofcommunism was included as direct, instruction. A teacherwho would have introduced a doubt of its merits wouldhave been liquidated by a comrade on guard as a . counter-

revolutionary.

"Ardent American tourists saw and heard only what the

boss Bolshevik wanted them to see and hear . They missedmany of the -views that would have shown the system_ for

what it was.

"However, they came back to America bubbling over with .

'evangelism for the new' education, and particularly bally-

hooed education for a new social order.' Needless to say,

this new social order' embraced the tenets and practices of

collectivism, a name caution taught these apostles to prefer

to Communism."

Challenge to America?" I am indebted to the International

Institute of Teachers College for making both trips to

Russia possible."

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LEADS THE WAY

Since these activities were largely under the command of

Columbia teachers, it was only natural that Teachers Col-

lege, Columbia University, should become the fountainheadof this new type of education. Not only were teachers who

were looking for advancement beginning to come in greatnumbers to Teachers College, but the summer schools which

taught these most "advanced" ideas were so well advertised

that many thousands came each summer, swept off their feet

by teachings-things they 'had never heard before . Theybecame the victims of new theories of society and the kind

of "education" (so-called), which was necessary to produce

and perpetuate such a society. Consequently, they went back

to their respective cities, towns.and hamlets with the abso-

lute conviction that they had discovered the fount of alleducational knowledge (Teachers College) and the sure way

to save the world from the plague, and civilization from its

worst enemy, namely, itself .

Now multiply this yearly performance by the number of

years since the first World War and you can imagine how

many men and women in our -teaching, profession have be-come innoculated with these subversive doctrines .

Professor George S. Counts says in his "The Soviet

C7



Styling themselves the "Frontier Thinkers," these edu-cator;xeformers and . their colleagues, the more aggressive

social reformers, experimented in "liberal" schools and testedthe possibilities of capturing our educational. system. Theirmethods and techniques were extremely subtle, and theirdoctrines were artfully concealed in an attractive package

labeled "progressive education," and decorated with ribbons

called Social Science. Socialism? Of course not. This wasthe new twentieth century streamlined model of "democ-racy," said the Frontier Thinkers. As everyone likes to be

progressive, and everybody wants democracy, little opposi-tion developed.

GRANT FROM CARNEGIE CORPORATION

In 1926 a group known as the American Historical As-

sociation appointed a commission of liberal educators to"investigate the teaching of history and other social studiesin the schools." After bringing in a preliminary report in

1928, this commission was enlarged, secured a grant of

$300,000 from the Carnegie Corporation and spent fiveyears in deliberations. From about- this time the more mili-tant social reformers,-or-"hard--progressives,"'-dominated the

movement. In 1934 the commission published its report, thefifteenth volume of which is entitled Conclusions and Recom-

mendations, and contains the premise and philosophy of theleft-wing educators: Our American way of life is a failure

and must make way-for a collectivist form of society. Edu-

cation is to bring the day of this utopian "integrated order."

From "Conclusions and Recommendations" we learn indetail how this indoctrination through the schools is to be

accomplished. The propaganda vehicle is to be the newSocial Science course, supplanting the traditional United

States history, geography, and civics. Textbooks are to be

rewritten, special courses and teacher's guides are to be

Prepared and other teaching material is to-be carefully

selected to accomplish this purpose of education .

PROFESSOR LASKI CALLS IT SOCIALISM

Perhaps the most fitting characterization of this book is

the statement of Professor Harold Laski, prominent English

educator and Marxist, who says

"Stripped. of its carefully neutral phrases, the report is

an educational program for a Socialist America * * * (It)

could be implemented in a society only where socialism was

the accepted way of life; for it is a direct criticism of the

ideals that have shaped capitalist America." (New Republic,July 29, 1940.)

Thus, was hatched the plan of the collectivists at Teachers-College to propagate alien ideologies through the publicschools from coast to coast .

Having formulated this ambitious plan, they found thatthe most difficult part of the program was to introduce it

into the public schools. After all, to change the "climate of

opinion" of American citizens so that they will discardmany traditional institutions is no small undertaking. Who

knew what boards of education and parents would have tosay? Obviously the task required skill in preparation and

extreme tact in presentation.

PROFESSOR RUGG'S SOCIAL SCIENCE COURSES

One of the ablest for this task was Professor Harold Rugg

of Teachers College, keen, resourceful, teacher of teachers.

Rugg had long been an exponent of the "new social order"and had experimented with courses developing the idea. Infact, in the early 1920's he introduced his social science

pamphlets into the Lincoln School of New York City. Withthe strong support of radical colleagues, Professor Ruggintroduced his social science courses into other schools, and

in time his whole comprehensive courses, including teor more textbooks and various accessories, were in .use iapproximately 5,000 schools.

The working tools of this system are as follows: Textbooks, workbooks, and Teacher's Guides. One or two ex

amples will show the nature of this system, which em-phasizes "attitudes" at expense of knowledge .

In one of the pupil's workbooks the question is asked

"Is the United States a land of opportunity for all ourpeople? Why? This is the answer-the child.should give according to the Teacher's Guide For Our Country and OuPeople (p. 38) :

"The United States is not a land of opportunity for all

our people; for one-fifth of the people do not earn anmoney at all. There are great differences in the standardsof living of the different classes of people. The majority dnot have any real security."

Most of us hold the belief that our country is superior

to dictatorships of other nations. But apparently we arewrong. For this is how the Teacher's Guide for America'sMarch 'Toward Democracy (p. 52) •rules out any suchattitude

"Of the 315 pupils 88 per cent said that the followingstatement was true, My country is unquestionably the bescountry in the world.' Now the attitude thus expressed isone that we decidedly do not want to develop in ourclasses." -

Among other tips to teachers, we find this in the Teacher's

Guide for America's March Toward Democracy (p. 68)

"Treat the War for Independence essentially as an eco

nomic struggle between the ruling classes of England andthe Colonies."

Thus we find many instances of the influence of Beard's

thinking in 1913. In one of Professor Harold' Rugg's social

science textbooks, History -of American Government andCulture, page 127, the following text appears :

"For land speculation later involved many leadersAmong them were Franklin, Gallatin, Patrick Henry, Rob-ert Morris, James Wilson, and many less widely knownmen. The speculators soon saw that to protect their owner-ship they must have the help of a recognized Central Gov-

ernment which would' establish land offices, make accurate

surveys, and establish Army posts to protect the settlers

There was a second group of speculators who also wanteda Central Government. ,They wexK.gamblg gho wire,buxing up the depreciated paper money."

In Rugg's Teacher's Guide for America's March TowardDemocracy, page 71, we find the following :

"The convention, however, consisted of a very small self-

selected -group of well-to-do, educated upper-class Ameri-

cans, many of whom were exceedingly conservative. Thiwas the group that made the written Constitution of theUnited States."

And in the same Teacher's Guide on page 72 is this :

"Furthermore, show that not more than three per cent ofall the inhabitants of the United States actually voted on

the ratification of the new Constitution. Emphasize that thus

only the small property class was represented in this con-servative government."

This is history as taught by the_.Rugg system.

These examples illustrate the kind of "attitude" taught

by the Rugg courses. In scores of other instances the.Ameri~

can way of life is subtly undermined, disparaged or openly

attacked.



While Beard' did not teach socialism the alternative to

constitutional freedom in this age is socialism .

The pity is that the millions who have read and are still

being-taught the economic interpretation of the Constitution

of the United States will not read or be taught the histories

by-Charles A. and Mary Beard, written' 30 and 35 yearslater. They powerfully present the 'facts that reveal theblessings of a free society as, against the workings. of the

socialized or authoritarian state, particularly the Republic,

the Federalist papers, - Roosevelt and the Coming of theWar, and Basic History of the United States in which theprofessor andsis'wife say :

"With this book we bring to a close our many years ofcooperative efforts in seeking to interpret the long course

of American history,, newly written to express the historical

judgment which we have reached after more than 40 yearsdevoted to the study of documents and the observation oflife at first hand in all parts of the United States, rural and

urban, and in parts' of-the Old World and the Orient."

~SCHEMF,,i~F IIO(sT UNATit?N

Soon the entire scheme of indoctrination of the Frontier

Thinkers became entrenched in our educational system from

grade schools, to colleges. Beard, Dewey, Counts and numer-ous others did the spade work. Rugg and others write thecoursesforchildren. tofit the specifications of the plan. Then

they devise courses for teachers, which sell them on the&

philosophy and expect them to sell the community throughthe medium of the children. Then teachers' colleges fallinto line by making similar courses mandatory for thoseseeking advanced degrees. Qualifiying teachers then are

rated as specialists in the social sciences and favored in

of Rugg's and similar courses. And so the cycle of propa-

ganda is complete. All of which has been financed by mil-lions of good capitalistic dollars from educational founda.

tiuons assisting to cut the throat of the very economic system

which created them!

Briefly, that/is how it happened-how the radical teachers

captured thecitadel of learning, while parents did not realize

what was going on,and consolidated their position by means

of great organizations such as the NEA.

Now, what has been the result of 20 years or more of this

kind of education? After all, we are not prejudiced against

new ideas or methods and should judge any institution byts results its g get ttn ,g=_sacet -There have been' some

benefits or good.points, but they have been so minor as. com-

pared to the bad ones that the general effect on millions of

the younger generation has been little short of tragic. A fair

appraisal. of this educational scheme for a new social order

will reveal vital defects, as follows : (1) It has causedshocking deficiencies in knowledge of mathematics, history,civics, geography, spelling, grammar, and other basic sub-

jects. (2) It has given unsound citizenship training by ignor-

ing or weakening discipline, initiative, respect for authority,

willingness to work, and other attributes of good training.

(3) The social science in particular has been used as acover in many instances for indoctrination in Marxism and

other subversive activities undermining faith in our Ameri-

can institutions.

Time will not permit detailed reference to the manyies of progressive education. We all have seen these

costly failures, including many to show the deficiencies now

apparent in basic education. For instance, Mathematics-Ihave a letter written during the war from an admiral ofour Navy to a professor of the University of Michigan . It

says in part:

"A carefully prepared selective examination was given to

4,200 entering freshmen at 27 of the leading, universities

and colleges of the United States. Sixty-eight percent of

the men taking this examination were unable to pass thearithmetical reasoning test. Sixty-two per cent failed thewhole test, which included also arithmetical combinations,

vocabulary, and spatial relations. The majority of failures

were not merely border line, but were, far below passinggrade. Of the 4,200 entering freshmen who wish to enter

the Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps, only ten per

cent had already taken elementary trigonometry in the highschools from which they had graduated. Only 23 per centhad taken more than one and a half years of mathematics in

high school. In order to enroll the necessary number of men

in the training schools, it was found necessary at one of the

training stations to lower the standards in 50 per cent of the

admissions. This necessity' is attributed to a deficiency in the

early educations of the men involved."

HISTORY: Wise men have long known that a knowledgeof history is indispensable to good citizenship,, for it is the

s'-letce of man's experience throughthe ages. "Not to knowwhat happened before one was born is always to be a child,"

said Cicero. No nation can be severed from, a precedinggeneration, and history, therefore, becomes a Continuousdrama wherein each scene leads to the next.

In a survey made by the New York Times in 1943, col-

lege freshmen throughout the nation revealed a strikingignorance of even the elementary aspects of United States

history; "and knew almost nothing about many importantphases of their country's growth and development," saidBenjamin Fine..

Seven thousand students in 36 colleges and universities in

all sections of the country were examined . A large majority

of these college freshmen could not identify such names as -

Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, orTheodore Roosevelt. Of those questioned,' 1,705, or 25 percent did not know that Abraham Lincoln was President ofthe United States during the Civil War. Twenty-five students

listed George Washington as having been president during

that highly important period ; 35 per cent listed Alexander

Hamilton as being principally famous as President of theUnited States. A goodly number of students listed Hamilton

as being historically important because of his watches!

The survey revealed that most of these students had taken

courses in social studies or social. science, but that 82 per

cent of the colleges of this country do not require theteaching of United States history for the undergraduate de-

gree. Few of the students had any notion of the geographical

and historical formation of the United States .

Civics: For many generations, the course known as civics

was an important one in American schools, featuring astudy of the United States Constitution, its history and phi-

losophy. But under the scheme of the frontier thinkers, civicsas a separate course was dropped along with history andgeography to make room for social service. Figures of theUnited States Office of Education show that only 5.97 per

cent of high school students, or one in seventeen, took civil

government, and many of these courses stressed police, fire-

men, garbage man, fly control, and similar matters of local

government. Such information is desirable, but hardly at theexpense of the knowledge and understanding of our charter

of freedom and the basic law of the land .

Although the Bill of Rights and the Constitution are sig-

nificant milestones in this nation's life, the students queried

in the N.Y. Times survey were only slightly familiar with

both of these great documents. Less than half of these col-

lege freshmen could name two of the many specific powers



granted to Congress by the Constitution, while only 45 per

cent could name four specific freedoms guaranteed in the

Bill of Rights.

GEOGRAPHY: "Inasmuch as America's history unfolds in a

geographic setting, without some concept of this setting-an

understanding of local and sectional trends would appearimpossible," says Benjamin Fine in Timessurvey. The stu-dents were asked to name the States starting with Massa-chusetts in their geographic order from north to south. Only

three per cent of the students-193 out of 7,000 couldlist the States along the eastern seaboard with any degree

of accuracy.

Most of our students did not have the faintest notion of

what this country looks like. St. Louis, located on America's

most famous river, the Mississippi, was placed on the Pacific

Ocean, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, the Atlantic Ocean, OhioRiver, St. Lawrence- River, and almost every place else.

Only 15 per cent of the college freshmen had any idea where

Portland, Oregon, was located. Two hundred and fiftystudents thought that Portland, Oregon, was on the Atlantic

Ocean.

As you may know, Scarsdale, N.Y., has long been astronghold of "progressive" education. Long after its fal-

lacies had been exposed throughout the Nation, the Frontier

Thinkers were able to hold out at Scarsdale, until a com-

mittee of alarmed parents made their own survey, viewed

the results and insisted on cleaning house . Onthe subject

of social studies versus the separate teaching of geography,

history and civics under their own names, their report,which should be read by every school board in the country,

states: "Some fathers and apparently mothers have been sur-

prised at the ignorance of some Scarsdale. School graduates

about geography; and there is a country-wide recognition of

deficiencies in history."

A sample question illustrating the way geography istaught, is offered as a possible explanation of the deficiency

in this subject. The question is "Petroleum is getting more

important because-." These four possible answers areprinted from which pupils are to mark one as being correct :

(1) Much money is invested in it. (2) There are many oil

wells. (3) Oil wells are'valuable. (4) Gasoline is needed

for autos. Just what element 'of geography,' says the com-

mittee, would that implant in sixth-grade pupil minds?"'

READING AND SPELLING: It was found that 39 per cent of

the parents were dissatisfied with the progress of their chil-

dren had made in reading, and 77.3 per cent of parents

were dissatisfied with their children's ability to spell. The

committee said

"Simple subjects singly taught accumulate more ultimateknowledge than any potpourri which is predominantlysocial'."

The following recommendations were made :

1. We urge that the term "social studies" be droppedcompletely from teacher intercourse with pupils and parents

and from their reports.

2. We recommend the teaching of geography as a distinctcourse of study in the elementary schools, with emphasis on

map or space geography as distinguished from economicgeography.

3. We recommend the teaching of a continuity of un-

diluted history. By "undiluted" we mean what a most emi-

nent educator expressed thus: More teaching from historyand less from contemporary scenes."

If time permitted, a similar condition could be shown in

writing; speaking, grammar, sound economics and other sub-

jects necessary to a basic education, and also deficiencies in

general citizenship training .4

ENGLISH: The average American high-school graduate is

ill-prepared to read, write and speak the English language,

according to the report prepared by Professor Albert Elsasser

of Princeton University and Professor Albert H.'Thayer o

Bowdoin College, and submitted recently to the School and

'College conference ohEnglish at the Hotel New Yorker.

Based ona poll of English instructors in 106 colleges anduniversities which trained Army and Navy students- during

the war, the report made 15 recommendations to modifyEnglish teaching practices in secondary schools.

Of the 106 colleges and universities polled, only 7 dis-

approved of the committee's indictment of the trainee's prep-

aration in English. One institution reported that a :third o

its trainees was so "grossly deficient as to make it" in-

credible to us that any secondary school would permit their

graduation."

DEMOLISHING LOYALTIES AND TRADITIONS

Another serious objection to this education for, the "ne

social order", is that it,isa philosophy of pure materialism

The theory is that the religious influence which fits certai

standards of morality, honesty, integrity and loyalty is a

sham and a delusion and has no place in education. In short

these time-tested verities must give way to a "philosoph

of change" in which nothing is constant or stable. It is

simple step from this to the acceptance of a materialistic

philosophy which is the Marxian doctrine .

Effort is centered on demolishing loyalties and shatterin

our objects of allegiance. This is cleverly termed "changin

our attitude" which is an essential step to the. uprooting o

many time-honored loyalties and respected customs and tra

dition's of patriotism and culture which have been thefoun

dations upon which our Republic was built.

Coupled with this, the child is deprived of history, geog

raphy and -civics as separate courses. These time-honore

and vitally important subjects are lost in these social science

courses of indoctrination. As a consequence, the student s

educated is cut loose from the philosophies of life which th

ages have proved 'of value .

He is taught that there are no permanent values or stand

ards and that he must have no concept but one of "change,

inevitable change. Thus the child is submerged in a props

ganda of disbelief and cast adrift in a sea of doubt ancynicism. He is like a ship without a rudder.

This whole - sc_heme,is sq _skillfullyJ igged that ithafooled millions of people. In fact, many, ,adults and eve

teachers have been deceived by this program which masquerades cleverly under the attractive banner of "liberal

ism," "progressive education," and an effort to improve ou

"democracy."

A serious aspect is the radical teacher's concept of hi

function in our society. According to a committee of thProgressive Education Association, of which ProfessoGeorge Counts was chairman, our teachers should considethemselves as "the spiritual leaders of. the masses of t

people " (A Call to Teachers of the Nation, p. 19.) The co

mittee explains that teachers should not consider themselve

"tools of the State; nor does it mean that-they are constrained to defend the existing social system." (Ibid

"Even the taxpayers," it says, "have no special claim on th

schools; they are but the tax collectors of society." (Ibid

Most citizens are unaware of this attitude, but it exists i

many places and fortunately the Scarsdale (N.Y.) parents

heretofore mentioned, dealt with it in the good old America

tradition. They said :

"Our considered position is that, greatly as we admire our



school leaders, we believe ourselves capable as a community

of debating , educational methods on an even footing- Weaccept no inferior status for parents in counseling withschool authoritiesonthe education-of our children.

"Many of our club members in the professions, arts and

industries are more than adequately educated for teaching

requirements, but find other callings more attractive orcongenial."

~o, when we review this revolutionary educational planobjectively and see the results of 20 years in operation, we

find that on-balance it is definitely bad. To sum up, I cando no better than to quote from that keen student of ourtitnw=Dr. Henry Link-who said:

"Our capitalistic system supports the largest, I will notsay the, greatest, educational system in history, but its lack

of an adequate ideology encourages that system to turn outmoreand more.Socialists who would destroy the very systemwhich made their education possible. That is one reasonwhy I, have deac~il>e Sloe .

"SlO ie of ill)ywritings as "The most elaborate plan ever con-ceived' fur obscuring and even denying the elementary facts

of life." But let us not, blame the educators, let us blameourselves, becausewhile we have _supported education withour dollars, we have neglected to guide it with ourprinciples.

MANY ABLE EDUCATORS FIGHT PLAN

Now, in these remarks, I have dealt rather roughly with

our educational setup because it deserved it. But I wish to

make it very clear that I am not condemning all our schools

and colleges and certainly not the teaching profession as a

whole;'for which I have the highest regard. Thousands ofschools have refused,, to accept-in whole or in part this:insidious pattern of education, and others have thrown it

6ut when its true nature was revealed .

Great credit must be given to the teachers who have fought

for years without organization or recognition, against the

apparently overwhelming influence of the radical educators.

Against all kinds of pressure, they have held true to their

principles and now see their judgment vindicated:

ENGLAND'S DRESS REHEARSAL FOR UNITED STATES

t

Now, ifyouwould see the pattern that these politico-edu-cators have for the United States you should followw closely

he program.of the S alist.,,l goYernment in England.

---T a or g0Xeriiment i e child of the Fabian Society,,

pioneeredby SidneyandBeatrice Webb in London in 1884Asyousee one industry after another being nationalized, thefarmers being told what they may sow, how they must reap,

and citizens generally ordered to work where directed and

under conditions prescribed by the state-all under heavypenaltyonrefusal-you can see liberty rapidly disappearingand the hollow mockery of Britain's proud boast of centuries

that every, man's home is his castle.

And when you read that the nationalization of the medi-

cal profession, with all the evil consequences, is being ruth-lessly pushed against the violent protests of 87 per cent of

England's doctors and surgeons, you should shudder at the

hills now pending in our Congress for socialized medicine,

for it is the beginning of the same plan.

Yes, you are now being afforded a dress rehearsal of what

these professors have planned for our country and are suc-

cessfully carrying out. A year or so ago, George BernardShaw,,a leader of the Fabian Society in England, declared

that- the objectives of this organization were being accom-

plished in, England, and the United States was next .

When the Frontier Thinkers conceived their elaborate

and clever plan many years ago, they estimated that it wouldtake one complete generation to accomplish their purposeby means of education. They have now abouttwo-thirds ofthe alloted time. They have completed the job in Englandand you may judge for yourself how nearly they havereached their goal in our country.

These leaders are able, intelligent and determined, and

they are using your money and your schools and yourchildren to bring it about. And if and when thatsad dayever strikes this glorious country you will find emerging

from their pink ivory towers as the real heroes of the move-

ment, several radical educators just as Professor HaroldLaski took the plaudits in England when the Socialiststook over.

"EMOTIONALIZED SOCIAL REFORMERS"

A noted educator, Dr. John L. Tildsley, former AssistantSuperintendent of Schools, New York City, holds this view

of these Frontier Thinkers: "I have come_to- believe the

groupin tie main favors a society not dominated by theprofit motive, a society labeled as a democratic collectivist

society * * *they are primarily social reformers, new world

makers rather than school masters, and are therefore seem-

ingly indifferent to the quality of education today. * *

The extreme Frontier Thinkers plan to capture the collec-

tivist society by exploiting (not really educating) thechildren through the agency of the teachers and enrolling

them in a movement approved by probably not five per cent .

of the parents. Such a plan is both immoral and impracti-

cable. * * * As I see it they are no longer School Masters,

they are just emotionalized social reformers. The worldneeds both school masters and renovators of society ; but why

mix the labels? Why employ the very expensive machineryof the school for an end that is not education but merely

conversion?" (The Social Frontier, July 1, 1938 .)

At long last, many people are becoming alarmed andendeavoring to do something about this serious conditionin education, but they lack leadership and organization. The

great majority are too engrossed in their own affairs to visittheir schools, read their children's textbooks and find out

what they are being taught. It is truly amazing that more

parents are not enraged at those responsible for this shocking

betrayal of our youth. Have we lost our great American

tradition of righteous indignation? Sometimes I think we

have. Perhaps we are punch-drunk. If so, we had better

sober up-and soon, for time is fast running out, and huge

numbers of the younger generation have been educated toworship false gods.

We should know by now that all our efforts to rout Com-

munism amongst adults will only be a temporary victoryat best, if so many of our schools and colleges continue to

spawn collectivists and socialists, for these alien forms of

society are based on the. economic and political principles ofMarxism, which pave the way for Communism. We haveseen proof of this a dozen times in countries that have fallen"

behind the iron curtain .

Let us not forget that when Cicero's last effort failed and

the gates of the Roman Republic were opened to the bar-barians from the North, it perished in the dust along with

the hopes and aspirations of mankind. And it was ,nearly

1,500 years thereafter before a republican form of govern-

ment worthy of the name dared to rear its head in Italy .

Wealth may come, wealth may go ; material security may be

a fact today and a fiction tomorrow, but once the liberties

of men are destroyed no one can tell when or if they will

ever be restored. -



WHAT YOU CAN DOTIf you have children,,, you exish freedom, +if you care, ments that the party In power controls what is taughtin t

what happerit tomorrow, rtad'c this do mentary re public schools. Consider these comments' -from responsiblport of the cgnsp raey Within our p lic sch(toIt which in thinkers:

30 years has.,u'! Iermined Young America's faith in the Con- SUPREME COURT, 1942: "The Government has the right to regulat

stitution of the United States and our dempcratic processes.that which it subsidizes." ,

NATIONAL GRANGE "In the long run, federall appropriations fAct immediately to aid our schools by defeating Federal the.public schools and federal control would go hand in hand ."

Aid to Education: write, get your family and friends to DWIGHT EISENHOWER (Pies,Columbia University): "The Feder

write to your Senators and Congressmen. Write leaders of Government has no -right to take tax money out 'of our pockets an

all political;- conomic and educational groups to which you `Ip then give it back to us without some sort of supervision."

belong'. Present them personally with a copy of "Education

;ROBERT A. MILLIKAN (Calif. Institute ofTechnology): "Anythi

g•Personay w pyo a lod'al community gets from Federal Goverhnx It it itself pays'f

For The New Social Order"-after reading it so carefully and at an unnecessarily excessive rate • • -It is robs y that very feyourself that you are capable of discussing it competently . of the present proponents of Federal Aid to E~ducatton are careful

Urge the local PTA, your School Boards, the League of weighing the long-range effects of this kind of policy. They are mereinterested in the need of increased salaries for teachers, -fn whi

Women Voters, Professional Women's Clubs, AAUW, etc., matter I, am in agreement with them. It ismerely another one of thos

to present both sides of the issue and offer personally to efforts to clear out the cockroaches by burning the house down'."

present the facts. against federalized education. To date, both SENATOR HARRY BYRD: "When local education is assumed by t

sides have not been presented on the Federal Aid Bill: Many Federal Government as a Federal responsibility, ti the Staves, whic

have been doing so much to improve their school system will swell-intentioned people have been deluded into believing 'Let the Federal Government do it'. State responsibility would bthat there is only one side. .An informed, alert PTA alone undermined and indifference encouraged."

could -defeat liis bill. DR GEORGE S. BExsON (President of Harding College) : "Th

If teachers' salaries in your area are inequitable, discuss states (even Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana) are Lirdch_si*rd ;

to take care of their own educational needs than is the Federal Governwith your School Board and other local authorities how

ment >, (Dr. Benson has recently completed a survey showing that mafunds may be reallocated, without raising taxes, so that states already have corrected the glaring budget inadequacies still be

teachers may be fairly paid. Fair salaries must be one means ing cited by National Education Association proponents and lobbyists

of securing teachers who believe in our American Republic .STATE OF INDIANA Concurrent Resolution 1945:"We have taken

good look at said dollar (taxedd out of our pockets and sent toWasImpress upon your School Boards, teachers and parents ington). We find that it lost weight in its journey to Washington'an

at the teaching of American ideology, based on God-given back. The political brokerage of the bureaucrats has been -deducted

rights of individuals as expressed. in the Declaration of In- We have decided that there is no such thing as Federal Aid."

dependence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, shouldDR. DONALD J. COWLING (President Emeritus, Carleton College)

"The basic argument against Federal Aid for schools is that it woulbe reestablished in the curricula and tenets of the schools place in the hands of those in political authority the power to trap

in your community. Freedom of education is the forerunner form our whole way of life."

of all other freedoms. Keep our American schools free from National Association- of ProAmerica,Federal thought-control. It is only in totalitarian govern- Miller Building, Yakima, Washington

N. A. P. A.

Yakima, Washington

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Documents

Augustus G. Rudd - Education For The New Social Order [1948].pdf